Thread by @alexandrosM

Haven't heard this yet. Let's do a live thread as i listen through. Yolo.

Disclaimers:
If you don't like long threads, gfy.
If you don't like strong language, likewise.

OK, here we go.

"There's an algorithm I run more than most, called intellectual honesty".

Coming strong out the gate, Harris.

Let's remember that this dude came after me in his AMA 17 episode, strawmanning my 🧵 below where I found a heap of factual errors he and Topol made in their podcast.

He focused on the fact that I said VAERS has a terrible UI, leading to underreporting.

Not only did he fail to tear down his own strawman, he actually misconstrued my argument completely.

Oh God were only a few seconds in.

"Not only can you mot conform to a tribe, you cannot conform to who you were yesterday, if your master value is to be honest and rigorous and available to new data, new arguments, and new insights".

Unless it's about covid, in which case, the CDC is the word of God.

Here's Mr. Honest and Rigorous explaining away dissident doctors by the fact that, well, someone's got to be schizophrenic, right? Rigor mortis, perhaps.

"I pick my battles now better than I used to".

That's it. That's the tweet.

Hey, his take on Twitter isn't half bad.

If only he'd engage the people he slandered on some other venue. Any venue will do.

I still think the medium of Twitter can be used for good, too. Y'all aren't all bad.

The comments. Oh my God the comments.

Oh yes. A spectacular takedown of Sam's "PhD thesis".

He compares Twitter banning people with him not having people on his podcast. He appears to be completely unaware that he is a publisher responsible for what he puts out there and twitter is afforded special protection specifically because they're not a publisher but a platform.

Yeah, there's that too.

Sam Harris: I like discrimination I'm cool with. But not discrimination I'm not cool with. Like racism bad, right? But if twitter wants to discriminate against people i don't like? Sign them up, amirite?

Lol

"People can start their own platforms"

Nobody tell this guy about what happened to Parler?

Good god man, he doesn't even have the up to date BS.

The quiet part. He said it out loud. This is a document for the ages.

In which, Sam Harris says that it's ok to conspire against Trump getting elected, because he was the equivalent of an asteroid headed towards earth. Literally literally. Worth watching just for Francis' reaction at the end. Omg.

Thread paused for dinner and/or night.
Suffer in silence.

He might have thought you're schizophrenic, just like the voices in his head.

Thomas Sowell is a timeless oracle.

Look dude, it's only bad when Iran puts in a caste of unelected mullahs to select which candidates are allowed to run in elections. I mean, think about it. Mullahs! Bro, do you even technocrat?

Given Sam's position on free will, I'd love to understand what he thinks the difference is between censoring input to the brain in a way that alters the output (vote) from straight up altering the votes. I don't think he can find any.

The way Sam talks about institutions and expert opinion confirms my sense that the true split of the heterodox world was between those defending the institutions and those who defend the truth. When the institutions separated from the truth, we saw who was who.

Lol, I think this thread got Sam Harris trending. The clip about the kids in hunters basement is getting something like 10k views a minute 😂

I usually completely ignore what's trending, but you must admit this is hilarious.

If you're wondering if his authoritarian streak is new, listen to this clip from a podcast with @BretWeinstein from the time before COVID was in the news, where Sam comes out in favor of forced vaccination.

Spoiler: no.

Yes!

Reply with your own memes. Here's the template:

Dying

Yes, @EricRWeinstein, the problem is the clip. Watch the whole podcast. Please explain to me what exactly the clip conveys inaccurately. Or are you saying that Sam Harris is not good at expressing his thoughts clearly? Is that the issue?

In other news, Konstantin Kisin wants us to link to @triggerpod. Happy to comply with the request, WHICH I WOULD HAVE SEEN EARLIER IF HE HADN'T BLOCKED ME FOR DISAGREEING WITH HIM.

Lol. @samharrisorg blocked me before tweeting his explanatory thread. Nevertheless, attaching here in case anyone wants to see it.

I believe that makes @francisjfoster the only participant in that podcast not to have me blocked. Francis, you were always my favorite, buddy. ❤

No, wait, breaking news, @KonstantinKisin unblocked me.

OK OK, enough of "who's blocked Alex today", let's finish thus thread, shall we?

Never say I didn't point you to the counterarguments. It's not my fault they're awful.

What makes Sam special is that he understands that the institutions can be captured by an activist mob in the throes of a moral panic, with unforeseen consequences. And he still thinks all principles should be thrown out to maintain this system in place.

❤

OK. Having listened to the rest, not much to report on. But do go listen to the whole thing. You can't really appreciate it from the clips.

Some people didn't like the tone. They thought it was biased and glib. This is true. I tried to reason with Sam when I felt he was going off the rails. I know he read some of those threads because he commented on them in his pod.

Yet his responses were awful strawmen. He didn't try to engage or steelman whatsoever. His next podcasts on covid were even worse. Go and listen to his Topol or Christakis episodes given what we know today. They already sound much worse.

He wants the right to slander, misrepresent, and humiliate people, with no accountability. And then he wants to claim that he's all about conversation.

Sorry, there's only so much i can handle. After some point, I flip the bit and enter "anthropological observation" mode.

So this thread was meant as a lighthearted thing for people on my corner of Twitter to have a laugh. Then it blew up. I guess it struck a cord.

By the way, this doesn't mean that I didn't mean what I wrote. I stand by every claim in here. Just want to give y'all some context.

I still hope Sam will see reason at some point, but let's face it, the odds are extremely slim.

At the very least I'm grateful to him for being clear and forthcoming. The podcast, it turns out, really needs no commentary. I do think it will be a milestone that Sam will never live down, if only for the straightforwardness of his positions, such as they are.

So long, and thanks for all the memes.

Sweetie, the top tweet links to your pod. Ask your team to explain Twitter to you. A "thanks" would do, but you know, you do you.

Apparently this person thinks I support someone who was incompetent enough to have Anthony Fauci run the pandemic response. 🤦‍♂️

Holly takes apart Sam's "clarification" like only a long time reader can. Packed with quotes from sam's books, including the one on lying. Worth your time to read this, i think: hollymathnerd.substack.com/p/a-response-t…

Oh, and she also showed me this quote from Sam's book "Lying". For those of us following along the past few years, this is about as stunning as the recent podcast.